Question

I have a Grid with 2 columns separated by a GridSplitter using the following XAML code :

<Grid>
    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
    <ColumnDefinition Width="100" MinWidth="20" />
    <ColumnDefinition Width="10" />
    <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MinWidth="100" />
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

    <Rectangle Fill="Blue" />
    <GridSplitter Grid.Column="1" Background="LightGray" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" />
    <Rectangle Fill="Yellow" Grid.Column="2" />
</Grid>

Problem : The MinWidth of the Column on the right is ignored

• I definitely need the first column Width to be “100px” when page loads, so It cannot be * sized.
• I do not want to set a MaxWidth on the first column

*I know that has been adressed before but it always suggest to set column size to * or set a maxWidth on the first column… I don’t want that.

---

Found a solution, but its UGLY! :p, anybody has a cleaner way to achieve what I want… CODELESS (if possible)?

private void Grid_SizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e)
{
   var g = (Grid)sender;

   Double maxW = e.NewSize.Width - g.ColumnDefinitions[2].MinWidth - g.ColumnDefinitions[1].ActualWidth;
   g.ColumnDefinitions[0].MaxWidth = maxW;
}

Answer 1

The basic problem is that a grid splitter works by adjusting the width of the left column only and assumes the right column will star-size to fit the remaining space.

That means the problem you are trying to solve is actually “how do I limit the max width of the left column so that the right column does not get too small?”. This is basically what your code sample is doing.

If you want a more portable solution, that you can implement in XAML, create a Silverlight behavior that can be applied to a grid (as shown below). It will attach to the parent grid’s SizeChanged event and do pretty much exactly what your code snippet does, but being a behavior you can drag and drop them in Blend or attach them in XAML.

Here is a sample behavior I threw together for you as an example (based on your own code):

MinWidthSplitterBehavior.cs

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Interactivity;

namespace GridSplitterMinWidth
{
    public class MinWidthSplitterBehavior : Behavior<Grid>
    {
        public Grid ParentGrid { get; set; }

        protected override void OnAttached()
        {
            base.OnAttached();
            ParentGrid = this.AssociatedObject as Grid;
            ParentGrid.SizeChanged += parent_SizeChanged;
        }

        void parent_SizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (ParentGrid.ColumnDefinitions.Count == 3)
            {
                Double maxW = e.NewSize.Width - ParentGrid.ColumnDefinitions[2].MinWidth -
                              ParentGrid.ColumnDefinitions[1].ActualWidth;
                ParentGrid.ColumnDefinitions[0].MaxWidth = maxW;
            }
        }

        protected override void OnDetaching()
        {
            base.OnDetaching();
            if (ParentGrid != null)
            {
                ParentGrid.SizeChanged -= parent_SizeChanged;
            }
        }
    }
}

and use it like this:

<UserControl x:Class="GridSplitterMinWidthApp.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    xmlns:GridSplitterMinWidth="clr-namespace:GridSplitterMinWidth"
    xmlns:interactivity="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"
    xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls"
    mc:Ignorable="d"
    d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
        <Grid>
            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="100" MinWidth="20" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="10" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MinWidth="100" />
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
                <GridSplitterMinWidth:MinWidthSplitterBehavior/>
            </interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
            <Rectangle Fill="Blue" />
            <Controls:GridSplitter Grid.Column="1" Background="LightGray" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
            </Controls:GridSplitter>
            <Rectangle Fill="Yellow" Grid.Column="2" />
        </Grid>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>